On Monday, July 9, 2018, the Rappahannock Chapter of the Virginia Society of the Sons of the American Revolution (SAR) held a well-attended Commemoration and Public Reading of the historic Essex County Colonial Resolutions on the Essex Courthouse steps.  This event was exactly two hundred forty-four years after hundreds of Essex citizens gathered at the same location at the County Courthouse Green on July 9, 1774 and unanimously adopted this series of resolutions.  The Essex Resolutions set forth County residents’ views on how colonists should defend against increasingly objectionable British actions that infringed upon many of their basic rights.  These Resolutions provided guidance on the positions that should be taken by Essex County’s representatives who several weeks later attended Virginia’s First Revolutionary Convention in August of 1774.  That Convention adopted strong limitations on trade with Britain and elected the colony’s delegates to the First Continental Congress that met in October 1774.  The Essex Resolutions of July 9, 1774 are an extremely well drafted statement of the County residents’ cutting-edge political views and show how they were at the forefront of colonial thought on citizen’s rights and the need to defend them.  
 
The Rappahannock Chapter’s event began with Chapter President Wright Andrews giving the audience the historical background regarding these Resolutions, followed by seven Essex County residents who are direct descendants of American Revolutionary War Patriots taking turns reading the various Resolutions aloud to the audience.  Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Carl Strock, Immediate Past Chapter President, then described key actions, including Essex County’s sending over a thousand bushels of local corn to help feed residents of Boston, where the British had closed the port, and how the follow-on Virginia First Revolutionary Convention  adopted provisions that the Essex Resolutions had advocated and elected the colony’s delegates to the First Continental Congress.
 
The text of the Essex Resolutions of July 9, 1774  is in the below PDF file.
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​Submitted by Wright Andrews

​In late June three carloads of Williamsburg Chapter members traveled to Quantico to visit the National Museum of the Marine Corps.  They were guided on a three-hour tour through the Museum by retired Marines serving as docents.  Another Chapter trip to the Museum is planned for later in the summer or fall to just wander through the displays.
 
The huge museum opened to visitors 12 years ago, funded by donations from corporate America, active/former/or retired Marines and friends of the Corps.  There is no admission fee.  It is operated by the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation which also promotes a number of award programs recognizing education, leadership, and history.  In its first decade it welcomed 5 million visitors, including more than 350,000 school children.
 
The museum tells the story of the Marines from their beginning at Philadelphia in 1775 to the present day through displays of artifacts that include jet and helicopter aircraft suspended above historical era representations of the Revolutionary War, War of 1812, Mexican War, Civil War, Spanish War, the World Wars, Korea and Vietnam.  A final construction project is devoted to additional World War I exhibits and recent conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq and Kuwait.  It is scheduled for completion in 2019.
 
Submitted by:  Harley Stewart

 As part of a  tradition that spans over 50 years, the George Washington Chapter organized an Independence Day Commemoration at George Washington's Mount Vernon.  The parade up the bowling green in front of the mansion was led by the talented  Frederick Town Fife and Drum Corps and the VASSAR Color Guard.  Chapter Vice President David Thomas served as Master of Ceremonies, Chapter President Ernest Coggins delivered an address, and VASSAR Orations Contest winner, Miss Gabby Luchetti from Bishop O'Connell High School,  delivered her speech.  The event concluded with a wreath laying at General Washington's tomb by 1st VASSAR Vice President Pete Davenport and past George Washington Chapter President Paul Walden.  Members of the SAR, DAR, and public were then invited to lay carnations at the entrance to his tomb.  Over 40 compatriots from the George Washington, George Mason, Fairfax Resolves, Culpeper Minutemen, Norfolk, Richmond, Dan River, and William Grayson VASSAR Chapters participated in the event.  

After that event, GWSAR Vice President Dave Thomas participated in the Naturalization Ceremony for 101 new citizens in leading the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.  

The Colonel George Waller Chapter at the Independence Day celebration at Patrick Henry's Red Hill Plantation in Brookneal, VA presented its 2018 student Bronze Good Citizenship/American History Medal & Certificate to Kyle Griffith, a recent graduate of Chatham High School in Pittsylvania County.  Kyle participates in the Chapter's Living History Group.  Over 2,000 visitors attended the July 4th celebration at Red Hill.
 
Photo Below L to R:  Compatriot W.C. Fowlkes, Compatriot Jeff Briggs, Kyle Griffith, and Compatriot Gene Reamey
 
Submitted by Bob Vogler, President CGW Chapter

Members of the Williamsburg Chapter sponsored and attended the 33rd annual service of Prayer and Thanksgiving at historic Bruton Parish Church in Colonial Williamsburg on the morning of July 4th.  The service featured three patriotic hymns: America the Beautiful, the National Anthem, and America.  Members of the Williamsburg Chapter DAR also attended and the service was open to the public.
 
Submitted by:  Harley Stewart

​Mike Geisinger, President, of the Dan River Chapter, presents a Sons of the American Revolution Flag Certificate to the Guthrie family of Halifax, Virginia for their patriotic display of the United States Flag.  Their reason for this display is to show “Honor and Respect for all those who fight to protect this country; Past, Present and Future.” Below (left to right); Mike Geisinger, Tony, Robin and Lewis Guthrie.

​Submitted by Mike Geisinger

     The Nansemond Nation participated in the American struggle for independence, and, as a result, probably all tribal members are eligible for SAR, DAR or C.A.R. membership as appropriate.  A member of the tribe, Tom Badamo, and his three sons, recently joined the Long Island Chapter, SAR in New York.  The president of that chapter, Joe Vermaelen, then took on the task of bringing more members of the tribe into the SAR.  Since a large number of the tribe live on or near their original homeland in Suffolk County, VA, it followed that a new chapter in Virginia could be formed from the Nansemond Nation.
     A big step forward to that goal was made this past Sunday with the organizational meeting of the new chapter, which adopted the name "Nansemond Indian Patriots Chapter".  At this meeting eight new members were inducted and a slate of officers elected for the chapter.  The next meeting will be in conjunction with the Atlantic Middle States Association District Meeting in Newport News on August 10th and 11th.  The Virginia SAR Color Guard has been invited to participate in the Annual Nansemond Pow Wow on August 18th and 19th.

Submitted by Bill Schwetke, 2nd VP, VASSAR